A PAPAL VISIT THAT STIRRED A FUROR... ... AND A TV SHOW THAT DID THE SAME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140048-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 48
• Publication Date: September 27, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140048-6
ARTICLE AFFEAFM
ON PAGE -1
A Papal Visit That
Stirred a Furor...
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
27 SEPTEMBER 1982
Currents in the News
... And a TV Show That Did the Same
Was the Soviet Union behind last to set aside his papal crown and lead the
year's shooting of Pope John Paul II? resistance if Soviet troops invaded Po-
Two private investigations suggest this land. Other evidence indicated that
might be the case, and the White House Mehmet All Agca-the Turkish gun-
acknowledges that it is a possibility. man sentenced to life in prison for
The S
t
be
'
ep
em
r issue of Reader
s
Digest first outlined evidence
against the Kremlin. More details
came from NBC News in advance
of its September 21 television doc-
umentary, "The Man Who Shot
the Pope-a Study in Terrorism."
Reagan administration officials
said that independent information
reaching U.S. intelligence agencies
supports the news reports.
Both stories raised the possibility
that the Polish-born Pope was a
Kremlin target because of his
strong support for Poland's Soli-
darity trade union.
NBC, in a report denied by the
Vatican, said John Paul sent Leonid
Brezhnev a letter in 1980, vowing Turkish terrorist The mystery stills lingers.
shooting the Pope on May 13, 1981-
was working for an organized-crime
group in Turkey with close ties to the
Bulgarian secret service. The Bulgarian
agents, the reports noted, take orders
from the KGB, the Soviet secret police.
Agca is said to have spent $50,000 on
air fares and first-class hotels between
the time he escaped a Turkish jail
in 1979 and shot the Pope 18
months later. During several
weeks in Bulgaria, Agca reportedly
acquired the counterfeit passport
and the pistol he carried to Rome.
Both reports avoided flatly accus-
ing the Kremlin of helping Agca. "A
Soviet connection is strongly sug-
gested," said NBC's Marvin Kalb,
"but it cannot be proved."
Still, said Reader's Digest, "it is
inconceivable that the KGB would
not have known all there was to
know about a terrorist as closely
involved with the Bulgarian secret
service as Agca was."
Radio Moscow called the reports
"absurd" and "unfounded." ^
Approved For Release 2011/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140048-6